• Timeline
• Program Information
• The Application
• Your Personal Statement
• Transcripts
• Letters of Recommendation

Program Information

FREIDA: The American Medical Association’s Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database, or FREIDA, is a free online resource containing information on more than 8,000 graduate medical education programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and more than 200 combined specialty programs. FREIDA lists detailed information collected from annual surveys of programs, and aggregate training program statistics for each specialty and subspecialty. By defining various selection criteria, you can select a range of programs, or find specific program information.

Program Web sites: The majority of program Web sites list work and call schedules, an overview of residency training, and additional educational environment information. You will also likely find application requirements and deadlines specific to that program.

For each program that you are applying to, you will need to know:

1. Application deadline
2. The type of individual who should write your letters of recommendation (eg, does the program require an LOR from the chair of the corresponding department on our campus?)
3. Any other unique application requirements

The Application

When putting together your application be complete and be early. Remember that you are applying for a job. You must treat your application with utmost professionalism.

ERAS applications: Ninety-nine percent of UCSF students participating in the Match will use ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) to apply for residency programs, and match into a program through the NRMP (National Resident Matching Program). MyERAS is the Web site you will use to complete your application, select programs to apply to, and assign documents to be received by those programs. MyERAS uses the Common Application Form (CAF), an online, multi-section application. Along with the CAF, ERAS also transmits the following documents to your programs: letters of recommendation, UCSF transcript, USMLE transcript, personal statement, your Medical Student Performance Evaluations (MSPE), and your photo (optional). Kristen Fitzhenry coordinates the ERAS application procedure, and conducts orientation sessions on using ERAS in mid-July. Instructions on how to use MyERAS can also be found at http://www.aamc.org/students/eras/usemyeras/start.htm.

SF Match applications: Students applying in ophthalmology and pediatric neurology will apply to programs and match through SF Match. Most SF Match users will use ERAS and the NRMP to apply for and match into their internship year programs. SF Match uses the Central Application Service (CAS) to distribute applications to residency training programs. Applicants will complete one universal application form, gather one copy of each of the appropriate documents, and mail the entire package to CAS. CAS will process, copy, and distribute your applications to each of the programs that you request. The Office of Curricular Affairs will send your MSPE to SF Match on November 1 for distribution to your programs.

Programs not participating in ERAS or SF Match: Although a specialty may participate in ERAS, some programs within that specialty may not participate. To check if a program is participating in ERAS, view the list of participating programs at http://www.aamc.org/eras. You should also visit the program’s Web site to verify its application procedure and requirements. For programs not participating in ERAS or SF Match, you will need to send your application directly to the program(s) along with other required application materials (including letters of recommendation and UCSF transcript). The Office of Curricular Affairs will mail your MSPE directly to these programs on November 1 (be sure to give the program names and addresses to Kristen beforehand).

Transcripts 

You should track your UCSF transcript online at http://saawww.ucsf.edu/signon and report any discrepancies to the Registrar immediately. Remember, simply because you have received your evaluation through e*Value doesn’t necessarily mean that the department has reported a grade to the registrar, or that the posted grade is correct.

The Registrar’s Office will generate one UCSF transcript for each graduating student free of charge, which is sent to the Office of Curricular Affairs during the last week of October and transmitted to all of your programs through ERAS. The transcript will include all grades filed with the Registrar at that time.

However, since many programs will begin reviewing your application as soon as it is complete (except for the MSPE) and making interview decisions based on this information, you may want to request that your transcript be sent earlier, which means ordering and paying for an official copy from the Registrar’s Office. Instructions on how to order a transcript can be found on the Registrar’s Web site at http://saa.ucsf.edu/admission/transcript.html. Be sure to specifically tell the Registrar that this transcript is for ERAS; the Registrar delivers these to us daily, so you do not need to pick it up.

A note about non-UCSF transcripts: According to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), it is illegal for UCSF to transmit any transcripts other than our own. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has informed programs that transcripts from other schools cannot be sent through ERAS. If a program requests that you send a transcript from another school, such as undergraduate or graduate, you must order a transcript from that institution and have it sent directly to the program.

Letters of Recommendation 

Most programs ask for three or four letters of recommendation (LORs). A maximum of four letters can be transmitted through ERAS. In general, we suggest that LORs be written by senior faculty members with whom you have worked in clinical or research settings. A letter from a faculty member in the program you are applying to is often the most significant. The best way to ensure that your letter writers compose great letters for you is in the way you ask. By asking faculty, “Do you feel you know me well enough to write me a good letter of recommendation for a residency position in ________,” you have given them a graceful way out if they cannot write you a strong letter. Please check with your career advisor regarding the specifics of letters of recommendation for your specialty.

Many programs require an LOR from the chair of the corresponding department on our campus. Few chairs know all students; however, they expect to write such letters and have available the necessary information concerning your performance on their service, and will often conduct an interview with you. Don’t hesitate to request a letter from a department chair if your program application requires it. The UCSF departments that write “Chair” letters do it in various ways – in some departments, the chair signs all of the letters, while others have your core clerkship site director write and sign the letter on behalf of the chair.

Your letter writers will need a minimum of one month advance notice of deadlines. The Office of Curricular Affairs can begin accepting letters of recommendation on July 1 of the year in which you are applying. If you would like to ask a faculty member to write a letter of recommendation before this date, please let them know that they will not be able to send the letter until after July 1. Letters intended for ERAS should be mailed to the Office of Curricular Affairs (c/o ERAS; Box 0410; University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco, CA 94143-0410). These letters should include the ERAS Cover Sheet, available in ERAS on July 1. The Office of Curricular Affairs cannot review letters and pick the best ones for you to send. Nor can we release these letters to you in any form at any time. They are the property of the letter writer and not our office. Letters cannot be saved past the academic year in which they are received.

Waive your right: You should waive your right to see a letter of recommendation. The ERAS Cover Letter includes a waiver and instructs the writer to include a sentence in their letter regarding your decision. Many program directors see a student’s decision not to waive their right to see a letter as a red flag.

Non-ERAS programs: If you are applying to non-ERAS programs, provide your letter writers with a list of the program addresses and, where possible, include the name of the program director. The Office of Curricular Affairs can not print letters from ERAS and send them to non-ERAS programs. If you are applying to a program that is not participating in ERAS, you will need to ask your letters writers to send their letter directly to the program.